Good thinking to use Google Maps satellite images to case the pizzeria online and find out they use Food Services of America for a distributor. I am glad if you are starting to crack the code.

I wanted to ask you a question though. Since you found out your favorite pizzeria is using Food Services of America as a distributor how do you know your favorite pizzeria uses the Della Vista brand of mozzarella from FSA? Usually a foodservice distributor carries more than one brand of mozzarella. Did you ask FSA when you called them if they carry other mozzarellaís?

If you go to this page, it shows the brands under the FSA umbrella:http://www.fsafood.com/main/aboutus/fsabrands.aspx The regular eggs & dairy brand is called Columbia Valley Farms and they do make cheeses - but I donít know if they make a low moisture whole milk mozzarella. Iím tentatively assuming that they don't, and that their cheeses are just more standard fare that are widely available rather than the more ďspecialtyĒ Whole Milk low moisture mozz. I could always call and find out though. And I still might wish to dumpster dive to find out the specific products used from FSA. lolThen FSA has the ďethnicity brandsĒ which service Italian, Mexican, Asian restaurantsÖ.The Della Vita brand is for Italian/pizza restaurants, so my assumption is that my pizza place would be using their mozzarella of the Whole Milk variety, because the quality and taste of their pizza is so superb and the cheese on their pizza is admittedly quite oily. So the Della Vita brand is an assumption on my part, but it does make the most sense to me. Iím also skeptical that the Columbia Valley Farms dairy brand makes a whole milk mozz, since thatís kind of a specialty product associated specifically with pizza and Italian food. If youíre interested, the Della Vita product brochure is available in PDF when you click on that brand - it shows all of their Italian products.

But as I mentioned, after making a pizza with the sauce I was given, Iím concluding that the sauce is the real star of the show. Iím becoming more and more skeptical that the specific brand of mozz makes such a huge difference in the majority of pizzas (I know people disagree with this). I think the flavoring and quality of the sauce - and the relationship of the sauce to the cheese & crust - is really powerful and canít be understated. For so long I thought it was the cheese, but it seems to not be about the cheese as I had originally thought.

BTW, I ordered some whole leaf, dried Greek oregano, based on your recommendation. Canít wait to get it and start experimenting with it in my sauce, as I move toward attempting to replicate the sauce from my pizza place.Thanks again!!

Jsaras, very interesting idea with that oil to add flavor. Maybe Iíll try a similar tactic at some point!

If you go to this page, it shows the brands under the FSA umbrella:http://www.fsafood.com/main/aboutus/fsabrands.aspx The regular eggs & dairy brand is called Columbia Valley Farms and they do make cheeses - but I donít know if they make a low moisture whole milk mozzarella. Iím tentatively assuming that they don't, and that their cheeses are just more standard fare that are widely available rather than the more ďspecialtyĒ Whole Milk low moisture mozz. I could always call and find out though. And I still might wish to dumpster dive to find out the specific products used from FSA. lolThen FSA has the ďethnicity brandsĒ which service Italian, Mexican, Asian restaurantsÖ.The Della Vita brand is for Italian/pizza restaurants, so my assumption is that my pizza place would be using their mozzarella of the Whole Milk variety, because the quality and taste of their pizza is so superb and the cheese on their pizza is admittedly quite oily. So the Della Vita brand is an assumption on my part, but it does make the most sense to me. Iím also skeptical that the Columbia Valley Farms dairy brand makes a whole milk mozz, since thatís kind of a specialty product associated specifically with pizza and Italian food. If youíre interested, the Della Vita product brochure is available in PDF when you click on that brand - it shows all of their Italian products.

But as I mentioned, after making a pizza with the sauce I was given, Iím concluding that the sauce is the real star of the show. Iím becoming more and more skeptical that the specific brand of mozz makes such a huge difference in the majority of pizzas (I know people disagree with this). I think the flavoring and quality of the sauce - and the relationship of the sauce to the cheese & crust - is really powerful and canít be understated. For so long I thought it was the cheese, but it seems to not be about the cheese as I had originally thought.

BTW, I ordered some whole leaf, dried Greek oregano, based on your recommendation. Canít wait to get it and start experimenting with it in my sauce, as I move toward attempting to replicate the sauce from my pizza place.Thanks again!!

Zoe,

It might be a good idea to call FSA Food in your area to see what mozzarella's they carry. This is an example of why I say that. If I go to Bova Food Distributors, Inc. website under cheeses http://www.bovafoods.com/Dairy-10.html you can see they don't list all of their cheeses. That is where I purchased the Nasonville cheddar when I was on the hunt for Mack's cheese. They also carry many more cheeses and other things than are available to the public. Bova sent me their detailed product catalog before I went to Bova because I was a pizza business. You might be able to get a detailed product list from FSA if you tell them you are planning on maybe opening a pizzeria in your area.

It could well be that your favorite pizzeria is using the Della Vita brand of ingredients on their pizzas but it probably would be helpful if you really knew if they are using the Della Vita brand. I am not encouraging you to go dumpster diving, but if you are in your favorite pizzeria you might look around to see if you see any Della Vita products.

The flavor of the pizza sauce is important, but in my opinion so is the cheese or mozzarella. Of course the crust is also important. Did you make a pizza just with the sauce you got from your favorite pizza and then use a different mozzarella than they gave you on a side? I think if I recall right you posted that the sauce tasted plain and was nothing special.

I hope you like the Greek oregano. Trying to replicate a pizzeria's sauce is not the easiest thing to do.

While sauce is definitely important I feel it's the right combination of sauce, cheese, and dough that makes an exceptional pie, when one of those fall short you'll definitely notice. My philosophy on sauce is keep it simple - hand crushed san marzanos, salt and pepper, a simple pesto (basil garlic and evoo) and some red wine vinegar. Keep it uncooked and ideally refrigerate for 24 hours to let the flavors mingle.

Logged

If Tetris has taught me anything, itís that errors pile up and accomplishments disappear.

It might be a good idea to call FSA Food in your area to see what mozzarella's they carry. This is an example of why I say that. If I go to Bova Food Distributors, Inc. website under cheeses http://www.bovafoods.com/Dairy-10.html you can see they don't list all of their cheeses. That is where I purchased the Nasonville cheddar when I was on the hunt for Mack's cheese. They also carry many more cheeses and other things than are available to the public. Bova sent me their detailed product catalog before I went to Bova because I was a pizza business. You might be able to get a detailed product list from FSA if you tell them you are planning on maybe opening a pizzeria in your area.

It could well be that your favorite pizzeria is using the Della Vita brand of ingredients on their pizzas but it probably would be helpful if you really knew if they are using the Della Vita brand. I am not encouraging you to go dumpster diving, but if you are in your favorite pizzeria you might look around to see if you see any Della Vita products.

The flavor of the pizza sauce is important, but in my opinion so is the cheese or mozzarella. Of course the crust is also important. Did you make a pizza just with the sauce you got from your favorite pizza and then use a different mozzarella than they gave you on a side? I think if I recall right you posted that the sauce tasted plain and was nothing special.

I hope you like the Greek oregano. Trying to replicate a pizzeria's sauce is not the easiest thing to do.

Best of luck in your adventures!

Norma

I missed that post by Pete! Thank you Pete, for the info on Schreiber. That may be another possibility for the mozz along with Della Vita and Columbia Valley.I will definitely need to call them and quiz them about their mozzarella products availalbe, however my quest is now transitioning from an obsession with varieties of whole milk mozz > to an obsession with sauce ingredients. Norma, when they gave me a sample of their mozzarella a few days ago, it was literally only a pinch - enough to fit between your thumb and forefinger. So no, I did not use it on any pizza. I just keep it in a baggie in my fridge for "reference."

Yes, yesterday I made that pizza with all my own regular ingredients: some old crust dough I had in the fridge that was several days old, and the cheese was just my First Street Gold whole milk mozzarella which I have a huge block of. The only ingredient from my favorite pizzeria was the heaping of sauce that they gave me, and yet the pizza tasted just like one of theirs. That's why I am de-emphasizing the brand of whole milk mozz on my list of priorities, because for this pizza, it seems to not matter - the sauce is the key to this pizza, I discovered.

Yes, their sauce tastes quite non-descript and average when tasted in isolation. But when it is cooked on a pizza, an incredible, distinctive melange of flavors are released and some sort of magic happens, making the pizza taste unlike any other. I don't taste any garlic or onion necessarily, but there's definitely thyme, oregano, basil and pepper. I'm also going to stop using tomato paste, and I'm going to start using an immersion blender to grind canned plum tomatoes. I'm very excited to begin my sauce journey! Do you grind your own tomatoes Norma?(And I still intend to dumpster dive - the more information I have, the better!)

Chasenpse, thank you for your thoughts. I may try the red wine vinegar, sounds like an interesting touch!

I will definitely need to call them and quiz them about their mozzarella products availalbe, however my quest is now transitioning from an obsession with varieties of whole milk mozz > to an obsession with sauce ingredients. Norma, when they gave me a sample of their mozzarella a few days ago, it was literally only a pinch - enough to fit between your thumb and forefinger. So no, I did not use it on any pizza. I just keep it in a baggie in my fridge for "reference."

Yes, yesterday I made that pizza with all my own regular ingredients: some old crust dough I had in the fridge that was several days old, and the cheese was just my First Street Gold whole milk mozzarella which I have a huge block of. The only ingredient from my favorite pizzeria was the heaping of sauce that they gave me, and yet the pizza tasted just like one of theirs. That's why I am de-emphasizing the brand of whole milk mozz on my list of priorities, because for this pizza, it seems to not matter - the sauce is the key to this pizza, I discovered.

Yes, their sauce tastes quite non-descript and average when tasted in isolation. But when it is cooked on a pizza, an incredible, distinctive melange of flavors are released and some sort of magic happens, making the pizza taste unlike any other. I don't taste any garlic or onion necessarily, but there's definitely thyme, oregano, basil and pepper. I'm also going to stop using tomato paste, and I'm going to start using an immersion blender to grind canned plum tomatoes. I'm very excited to begin my sauce journey! Do you grind your own tomatoes Norma?(And I still intend to dumpster dive - the more information I have, the better!)

Zoe,

I must have not recalled that you said your favorite pizzeria only gave you a pinch of their mozzarella.

I am glad that when using the sauce from your favorite pizzeria it then made your pizza taste just like one of theirs.

I called Heagy Foods, Inc. this morning about the Schreiber Imitation Mozzarella and the man told me that is special item I could order if I liked. I ask if they carried the Schreiber regular mozzarella because I did not see it on their website. He told me yes they did. I asked how much would I have to purchase at a time. The man at first said 4 packages of diced mozzarella. I asked what was diced mozzarella and he said it was a longer thicker shred and really was not diced. I said I only wanted to try the Schreiber mozzarella out to see if I liked it. I then asked if Heagy's at market does sell the Schreiber mozzarella and he told me no they don't. He then told me I can purchase one package of the Schreiber mozzarella and they would send it for me to pick up tomorrow at market. The Schreiber mozzarella is going to cost 2.51 a lb.

I also asked if many pizzerias in our area are using the Schreiber mozzarella and he said yes.

Thanks for the link about the ďmongrelĒ cheese that you later found out was the Schreiber mozzarella. I guess there are many house brands of mozzarella's that we know nothing about. Was the cracker style pizza the last pizza you made with the Best Choice mozzarella cheese?

Thanks for the link about the ďmongrelĒ cheese that you later found out was the Schreiber mozzarella. I guess there are many house brands of mozzarella's that we know nothing about. Was the cracker style pizza the last pizza you made with the Best Choice mozzarella cheese?

Norma,

No, that was not the last pizza I made using the Schreiber Best Choice mozzarella cheese. After doing a forum search, I discovered that I had made quite a few more pizzas that used the Best Choice mozzarella cheese. These pizzas were made until about February, 2008, at about the time when the supermarket where I purchased the Best Choice cheese changed hands and I could no longer find that cheese anywhere else. Here are several examples of the pizzas I made after the cracker style pizza that I referenced in my last post:

What struck me as I collected the above posts and looked at the photos of the pizzas was how the Schreiber Best choice mozzarella cheese looked pretty much the same on all of the pizzas, with its creamy white characteristic and without a lot of oiling off. It didnít seem to matter what the style of the pizza was, or the size of the pizza, or the types and amounts of toppings, or the bake temperature or time. However, I should note that many of the cracker style pizzas used pre-baked crusts, so that might have exposed the cheese to a shorter bake. I might also add that I sometimes combined the Best Choice mozzarella cheese with other brands and types of cheeses, and the results were pretty much the same as when I used the Best Choice mozzarella cheese alone.

Hopefully you will be as happy with the sample of Schreiberís mozzarella cheese that you will be receiving soon as I was with the Best Choice cheese.

No, that was not the last pizza I made using the Schreiber Best Choice mozzarella cheese. After doing a forum search, I discovered that I had made quite a few more pizzas that used the Best Choice mozzarella cheese. These pizzas were made until about February, 2008, at about the time when the supermarket where I purchased the Best Choice cheese changed hands and I could no longer find that cheese anywhere else. Here are several examples of the pizzas I made after the cracker style pizza that I referenced in my last post:

What struck me as I collected the above posts and looked at the photos of the pizzas was how the Schreiber Best choice mozzarella cheese looked pretty much the same on all of the pizzas, with its creamy white characteristic and without a lot of oiling off. It didnít seem to matter what the style of the pizza was, or the size of the pizza, or the types and amounts of toppings, or the bake temperature or time. However, I should note that many of the cracker style pizzas used pre-baked crusts, so that might have exposed the cheese to a shorter bake. I might also add that I sometimes combined the Best Choice mozzarella cheese with other brands and types of cheeses, and the results were pretty much the same as when I used the Best Choice mozzarella cheese alone.

Hopefully you will be as happy with the sample of Schreiberís mozzarella cheese that you will be receiving soon as I was with the Best Choice cheese.

Peter

Peter,

Thank you for finding all of your posts that show what the pizzas looked like when using the Schreiber Best Choice mozzarella cheese with or without another mozzarella cheese. All of your pizzas look very tasty.

I also find it interesting that when using the Schreiber Best choice mozzarella cheese that the mozzarella had that creamy white characteristic without a lot of oiling off.

I don't think I have ever tried a mozzarella cheese that stayed so white and did not oil off a lot after baking like the photos you posted and the photos Zoe posted.

I am anxious to try out the Schreiber mozzarella cheese. I am not sure if what I am going to purchase today will be whole milk or part-skim mozzarella cheese. I did not think to ask about that because all I wanted to try out a Schreiber mozzarella cheese.

Another note for someone that might be looking for a certain mozzarella would be that Heagy's does not mention they sell the Schreiber mozzarella cheese at http://www.heagyfoods.com/#results.cfm?Brand=Schreiber&Category=Cheese&Subcategory=0 (edit: that link needs to have Schreiber cheese picked to show what Schreiber cheeses Heagy's offers) That is Heagy's wholesale list for their Schreiber cheeses. I would have not have known that Heagy's sold the Schreiber mozzarella cheese if I had not asked about the Schreiber Solid Imitation Mozzarella. I found about the same thing at Bova and also at a distributor I called in NJ. In my opinion finding out about cheeses for pizzas is even hard for someone like me that can purchase wholesale from distributors. I can only imagine how hard it is for a home pizza maker to find a good mozzarella cheese when I even have problems finding out about cheeses for pizzas.

I am always looking too at my local supermarkets for a new mozzarella cheese to try to see if I can find a good house brand of mozzarella. This is one I found over the weekend. I have no idea how good or bad it will be.

I don't think I have ever tried a mozzarella cheese that stayed so white and did not oil off a lot after baking like the photos you posted and the photos Zoe posted.

Norma,

I hadn't thought to look at Zoe's photos but you are absolutely correct about the similarities of the cheese appearance of the photos that Zoe posted and the photos of the pizzas I made using the Best Choice mozzarella cheese. Until you asked me about when I stopped using the Best Choice cheese, I had no reason to go back to look at all of the pizzas I had made using that cheese. But I am glad that you did because it was an eye opener for me to see how consistently the Best Choice mozzarella cheese performed across many different styles, at least those that I tried.

In revisiting the photos I posted, I should have noted that the Round Table clone pizza used a 3:1:1 blend of the Best Choice mozzarella cheese, Provolone cheese, and medium cheddar cheese. For some other blends involving the Best Choice mozzarella cheese, see the following posts:

I hadn't thought to look at Zoe's photos but you are absolutely correct about the similarities of the cheese appearance of the photos that Zoe posted and the photos of the pizzas I made using the Best Choice mozzarella cheese. Until you asked me about when I stopped using the Best Choice cheese, I had no reason to go back to look at all of the pizzas I had made using that cheese. But I am glad that you did because it was an eye opener for me to see how consistently the Best Choice mozzarella cheese performed across many different styles, at least those that I tried.

In revisiting the photos I posted, I should have noted that the Round Table clone pizza used a 3:1:1 blend of the Best Choice mozzarella cheese, Provolone cheese, and medium cheddar cheese. For some other blends involving the Best Choice mozzarella cheese, see the following posts:

So, as you can see, the Best Choice mozzarella cheese seems to blend well with other cheeses.

Peter

Peter,

I am glad you could make so many tasty looking pies across many styles with the Best Choice mozzarella cheese.

Thanks for the additional posts to photos of when you used the Best Choice mozzarella in combination with other cheeses. All of those pizzas look great too and I find it interesting how the Best Choice mozzarella cheese blended well with those other cheeses.

As for me getting the Schreiber mozzarella cheese from Heagy today I was disappointed when I got the package of mozzarella. It sure was not the Schreiber mozzarella cheese. I asked the man at Heagy's at market why the mozzarella was not labeled Schreiber mozzarella cheese. He told me that he did not know anything about the mozzarella cheese the main office at Heagy's sent me. I had wanted to call Heagy's main office today but I was too busy to try and call them to find out about the mozzarella cheese I was sent. Steve's wife did not want to drive in the snow early this morning so Steve took his wife to work. He then had to return to his wife's work place to pick her up in the mid-afternoon so it would have been too much for him to run back and forth to market today. I had to make all of the pizzas myself today and also sell them. I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I never thought I would be that busy today since it snowed, but then you never know what is going to go on at market. I sold out of my last regular boardwalk style dough balls, then made the Detroit offspring pizza and only had one Detroit style dough ball left so I tried the new mozzarella on a Detroit style dough ball made into a round pizza. The mozzarella cheese was highly disappointing. I won't post the photos of the Detroit dough ball made into a round pizza because the mozzarella cheese did not do anything for it. I guess that is the way it goes sometimes, but I am going to call Heagy's main office tomorrow and ask them what happened that I did not get the Schreiber mozzarella cheese.

Pete, thanks so much for mentioning Schreiber's Mozzarella and the FSA Gold Star Vendors. Before I read your post, I had not realized that FSA sells other brands than their own subsidiary brands, because when I clicked on 'brands' those were the only ones that came up. The Schreiber cheese is a strong possibility, apparently they are very popular in the food service industry.

Well guys, I've had it. Had it, I tell you! I'm tired of making a new pizza every day and having it be hit-or-miss when it comes to resembling my favorite pizzeria's pizza. It is very frustrating! I'm at my wit's end. Tomorrow I am going to go to the police station and ask about the legality of dumpster diving. As far as I can tell, it's perfectly legal in my state as long as you're not stealing personal documents and things like that.

I'm going to dumpster dive and hopefully I will find some relevant information on what this place uses!!! My inability to replicate the incredible flavor is eating me up inside (pardon the pun!).

Well guys, I've had it. Had it, I tell you! I'm tired of making a new pizza every day and having it be hit-or-miss when it comes to resembling my favorite pizzeria's pizza. It is very frustrating! I'm at my wit's end. Tomorrow I am going to go to the police station and ask about the legality of dumpster diving. As far as I can tell, it's perfectly legal in my state as long as you're not stealing personal documents and things like that.

I'm going to dumpster dive and hopefully I will find some relevant information on what this place uses!!! My inability to replicate the incredible flavor is eating me up inside (pardon the pun!).

Zoe,

Sometimes it is a good idea to stop (or slow down) for a little while in trying to recreate or clone your favorite pizzeria's pizza. It can get frustrating at times like you posted. I worked on finding the right cheese alone for a number of years on the boardwalk thread and spent a fair amount of money in doing so. I still could not find exactly the right cheese.

This is just a reminder about trying to clone a pizza you really like. It is very hard to clone a pizza if you don't have nutrition facts and know the distributor or brands of ingredients they use. The sauce alone might be hard to clone or having it taste somewhat the same when it is baked on a pizza. There are also problems at times in trying to recreate the crust or not having the proper oven to bake in. I have been on a number of threads with Peter in trying to clone different pizzas. Most of them were pizzeria's pizzas that did have some nutritional facts. Some of them took a long while and sometimes we could not find one right ingredient after much searching. To give you an example of that is when we worked on the Mellow Mushroom cloning effort. We never found the right molasses they used in their dough. I have failed many times in getting everything right. In the processes of trying to clone different pizzas I have learned a lot more about making pizzas though.

I called Heagy's Foods, Inc. this morning and asked why I received the Guernsey's Gift mozzarella cheese instead of the Schreiber mozzarella cheese on Tuesday. I was transferred to different people and I was then able to speak with Tim who is a salesman at Heagy's. At first he want me to try the Guernseyís Gift mozzarella, provolone, cheddar blend and said a lot of pizzeria's in our area use that. I said I did not like how the Guernsey's Gift mozzarella melted, tasted, almost seemed plastic and how it wanted to come off the slice in one glob after baking on the pizza and I did not think I would like the Guernsey's Gift blend either. I told Tim I had tried Guernesey's Gift mozzarella before they sent it to me on Tuesday and I did not like it then either. I asked again if they don't carry the Schreiber mozzarella and Tim said Schreiber really doesn't make their own mozzarella and has another company make it for them. I don't know how true that is. I then told Tim of the mozzarella cheeses I had tried from Hometown Provisions, Inc. and how I did like them but then changed to mild white cheddar for my boardwalk style and Detroit style pizzas. I asked Tim if they carried a really good mozzarella. Tim said yes they do carry a really good Wisconsin mozzarella. I asked what the name of that mozzarella cheese was and he told me it was Cascade Cheese Co. http://media.eatwisconsincheese.com/resources/wi_cheese_company_search/companydetail.aspx?companyid=142&companyinfoid=283 I never heard of the Cascade Cheese Co., but then there is a lot of cheese companies in Wisconsin I never heard of. I told Tim to send one loaf of the Cascade mozzarella cheese to market on Tuesday for me to try.

I also contacted Schreiber yesterday through a contact page on their website and also emailed them about their mozzarella cheese to see if I could find out if any distributors in my area that carry the mozzarella cheese under the Schreiber name.

I did not read the Leprino/Schreiber connection the way you did. The article says that Schreiber and Leprino shared common physical space and that Schreiber "packaged" cheese for Leprino. The article doesn't say but the packaged cheese might have carried the Leprino name on the label and be sold through the regular Leprino distribution channels.

I did not read the Leprino/Schreiber connection the way you did. The article says that Schreiber and Leprino shared common physical space and that Schreiber "packaged" cheese for Leprino. The article doesn't say but the packaged cheeseRp might have carried the Leprino name on the label and be sold through the regular Leprino distribution channels.

Peter

Peter,

Thanks for clarifying what the article says. I did call Schreiber to see if I can find any distributors in my area and also to find out if Schreiber makes it own mozzarella cheese. Do you know if Schreiber make its own mozzarella cheese or has another cheesemaker make it for them? Since Schreiber is so big of a cheese manufacturer I would think Schreiber would make their own mozzarella cheese.

I did talk to Justin at Schreiber and then he transferred me to Lindsey. I had to leave a voice mail for Lindsey.

Do you know if Schreiber make its own mozzarella cheese or has another cheesemaker make it for them? Since Schreiber is so big of a cheese manufacturer I would think Schreiber would make their own mozzarella cheese.

Thanks! I thought the salesman from Heagy's might not be telling me right when he told me Schreiber does not make their own mozzarella cheese. I think I will cancel the Cascade mozzarella order on Monday.

Life got in the way of pizza. But, a few quickies. That shredded mozzarella comes from the old Savoldi Cheese plant in West Middlesex, PA now owned by Dairy Farmers of America. You find that cheese branded six ways to Sunday in your neck of the woods. That Royal Ahold house brand Giant of Landover/Giant of Carlisle/Shop & Shop supermarket mozzarella is probably made by Lactalis/Sorrento, in Buffalo NY, but could also be from Biazzo in Ridgefield Park, NJ. Those two make most of the house brand supermarket block mozzarella sold in the Northeast.

You are right about finding out who actually makes mozzarella sold on the east coast. It is tough. The worst part about foodservice house brands is your cheese could change but sold under the same SKU's if the wholesaler goes to another manufacturer for the cheese.

Life got in the way of pizza. But, a few quickies. That shredded mozzarella comes from the old Savoldi Cheese plant in West Middlesex, PA now owned by Dairy Farmers of America. You find that cheese branded six ways to Sunday in your neck of the woods. That Royal Ahold house brand Giant of Landover/Giant of Carlisle/Shop & Shop supermarket mozzarella is probably made by Lactalis/Sorrento, in Buffalo NY, but could also be from Biazzo in Ridgefield Park, NJ. Those two make most of the house brand supermarket block mozzarella sold in the Northeast.

You are right about finding out who actually makes mozzarella sold on the east coast. It is tough. The worst part about foodservice house brands is your cheese could change but sold under the same SKU's if the wholesaler goes to another manufacturer for the cheese.

I did not know the part about foodservice house brands being changed if the wholesaler goes to another manufacturer for the cheese. That is weird that it would still have the same SKU. How did you find out so much about pizza cheeses?

I did cancel my order for the Cascade mozzarella on Friday because I have no idea how that mozzarella would be.

On a brighter note I did try a cheese blend yesterday that melted very well, did string well, and also tasted very good in my opinion. The photo is of the cheese blend I tried on two pizzas.

About imitation mozzarella, over the years I have come to understand its primary benefit is low cost and long life. My "gut" feeling is that most Schreiber imitation mozzarella winds up in "rotgut" frozen pizza. I often see Whitehall imitation cheese of various varieties sold unrefrigerated in ghetto supermarkets.

But you find imitation mozzarella in some or all varieties of Celeste, Mr. P (and the 89,000 house brands also made by Frozen Specialties, Inc.), Jeno and Totino budget frozen super market pizza. It is in Mama Rosa pizza, sold in the refrigerated foods section of supermarkets, probably because of the long shelf life of imitation mozzarella. I once had a long talk with a lady in consumer services of one of the frozen pizza manufacturers (before you had to talk to India) at the time they switched from real cheese to fake. It sounded at the time they did it to get the nutrition label to look respectable. Maybe some day someone will start a gonzo thread here on how to make the cheapest pizza possible ("I got fake mozzarella for 54 cents a pound"), but I don't think anyone on this site has any interest in imitation mozzarella except those on restricted diets.

About imitation mozzarella, over the years I have come to understand its primary benefit is low cost and long life. My "gut" feeling is that most Schreiber imitation mozzarella winds up in "rotgut" frozen pizza. I often see Whitehall imitation cheese of various varieties sold unrefrigerated in ghetto supermarkets.

But you find imitation mozzarella in some or all varieties of Celeste, Mr. P (and the 89,000 house brands also made by Frozen Specialties, Inc.), Jeno and Totino budget frozen super market pizza. It is in Mama Rosa pizza, sold in the refrigerated foods section of supermarkets, probably because of the long shelf life of imitation mozzarella. I once had a long talk with a lady in consumer services of one of the frozen pizza manufacturers (before you had to talk to India) at the time they switched from real cheese to fake. It sounded at the time they did it to get the nutrition label to look respectable. Maybe some day someone will start a gonzo thread here on how to make the cheapest pizza possible ("I got fake mozzarella for 54 cents a pound"), but I don't think anyone on this site has any interest in imitation mozzarella except those on restricted diets.

Zing,

Did you see Peter's post at Reply 97 http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,27952.msg292380.html#msg292380 after I asked about the Schreiber Imitation mozzarella in the reply right before his? Thanks for your thoughts about imitation mozzarella winding up on rotgut frozen pizza. I never saw any imitation mozzarella in my local supermarkets. I would not like to try imitation mozzarella but I was just curious about it since it was a Schreiber cheese.

I would like to see a thread about using the cheapest ingredients to make a pizza.

Thanks for the link about Low Protein Imitation Cheeses and your thoughts about them.